Smart Headlights

The headlight is actually an array of bulbs. The system uses a digital camera to track the motion of individual raindrops or snowflakes and then applies a computer algorithm to predict where each bit of precipitation will be a few milliseconds later. It deactivates bulbs that would otherwise illuminate the drops or flakes in their predicted positions.

“We have introduced a headlight system that can see through rain” and other precipitation, says Srinivasa Narasimhan, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute.